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Adults should have a breeding limit

Posted by Anonymous

134 Replies

It is reported that the UK government-sponsored Sustainable Development Commission believes that curbing people‚Äôs right to reproduce should be central to the fight against global warming (1). Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the commission and is also a patron of the Malthusian campaigning group the Optimum Population Trust, wants to turn population control into the key objective of environmental campaigning. So the totalitarian impulse towards controlling people‚Äôs reproductive lives has now received the blessing of sections of the British political elite.

Porritt‚Äôs estrangement from the newborn puts him in the company of a growing band of dreary misanthropists. King Herod‚Äôs fear of the newborn was confined to one baby. Today‚Äôs misanthropic fear-merchants have a wider target. One Australian professor of obstetric medicine, Barry Walters, believes that the very survival of the planet demands stringent controls on the number of children parents can have. This is what he has to say:

‚ÄėAnthropogenic greenhouse gases constitute the largest source of pollution, with by far the greatest contribution from humans in the developed world. Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing, but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society. What then should we do as environmentally responsible medical practitioners? We should point out the consequences to all who fail to see them, including, if necessary, the ministers for health. Far from showering financial booty on new mothers and thereby rewarding greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour, a ‚ÄúBaby Levy‚ÄĚ in the form of a carbon tax should apply, in line with the ‚Äúpolluter pays‚ÄĚ principle.‚Äô (2)

Throughout history, different cultures have celebrated birth as a unique moment signifying the joy of life. The reinterpretation of birth as a form of ‚Äėgreenhouse-unfriendly behaviour‚Äô speaks to today‚Äôs degraded imagination, where carbon-reduction becomes the supreme moral imperative. Once every newborn baby is dehumanised in this way, represented as a professional polluter who is a ‚Äėpotent source of greenhouse gas emissions‚Äô, then it becomes increasingly difficult to feel anything other than apprehension about the growth of the human race.

Our planet's resources are finite and humans are degrading the planet faster then it can regenerate. If we wish our children and grandchildren to have any kind of decent
life at all we must begin to take such warnings more seriously.

The planet is not over populated. Cities but not the planet. No one has a right to tell you how many kids you should have. The UK governmwnt is a highly intrusive government and their citizens have few rights. So glad my country's fore fathers saw them for what they were. Population control has nothing to do with resources. It is just another way of exerting control.

WE HAVE TOO MANY PEOPLE AND NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES!!! It really is that simple and America uses resources and produces garbage completely out of proportion to our population. There can be reasonable and voluntary population control now or great suffering down the line, to deny that is to condemn the generations that follow us.

Quoting jen2150:

The planet is not over populated. Cities but not the planet. No one has a right to tell you how many kids you should have. The UK governmwnt is a highly intrusive government and their citizens have few rights. So glad my country's fore fathers saw them for what they were. Population control has nothing to do with resources. It is just another way of exerting control.

If we have too many people please explain why I can live on 40 acres by myself. People that go hungry is more of a fact of government control. You really need to educate yourself. This is not the first time this idea has come up. People should always have the freedom to have as many kids as they can afford. I personally have two kids because it is what I can afford. Others are able to afford more. The important part is not how many kids you have but raising responsible adults that will benefit society.

Quoting GaleJ:

WE HAVE TOO MANY PEOPLE AND NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES!!! It really is that simple and America uses resources and produces garbage completely out of proportion to our population. There can be reasonable and voluntary population control now or great suffering down the line, to deny that is to condemn the generations that follow us.

Quoting jen2150:

The planet is not over populated. Cities but not the planet. No one has a right to tell you how many kids you should have. The UK governmwnt is a highly intrusive government and their citizens have few rights. So glad my country's fore fathers saw them for what they were. Population control has nothing to do with resources. It is just another way of exerting control.

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